The present invention relates to apparatus for manipulating containers for photographic films, and more particularly to improvements in apparatus for processing cassettes or analogous containers for exposed photographic roll films. Still more particularly, the invention relates to apparatus for assembling exposed photographic roll films into a continuous web which is ready to be transported through a developing machine.
The automation of development and copying techniques in photographic processing laboratories renders it necessary to splice together a large number of customer films so that the resulting web can be transported through successive developing, fixing, rinsing, drying, printing, severing and other stations. As a rule, a web will consist of a very large number of spliced-together customer films so that its overall length is in the range of several hundred meters. Apparatus which are used for uniting customer films into a continuous web are known as presplicers. An important requirement for convenient servicing of a presplicer is that the attendant or attendants can insert successive cassettes with exposed customer films therein in daylight or artificial light, i.e., that the attendant or attendants need not work in a darkroom. Furthermore, the apparatus must be designed with a view to insure that exposed films are removed from their containers in the absence of any stray light.
In accordance with a presently known proposal, the inlet of the apparatus is provided with a flap which seals the inlet during removal of exposed film from the previously inserted cassette. Upon removal from the cassette, the exposed film must be transported to a further station, e.g., to a splicing station, along a path which is completely shielded from light which reaches the film removing station during introduction of a fresh cassette. The mechanism for transporting successively removed films from the removing station to the next-following station utilizes grippers which contribute to the bulk, complexity and cost of the apparatus. Moreover, the movements of the flap at the inlet of the apparatus must be controlled by a rather complex system which must insure that the flap automatically prevents entry of any light during removal of exposed film from a previously introduced cassette or which must produce a readily detectable signal to warn the attendants that the flap should remain closed because the apparatus is in the process of removing exposed film from the respective cassette.